Georgia, Moldova and Serbia officially joined the EU's COVID digital certificate system on November 15th. The three states have met all the requirements to become part of the system used for travel in Europe.
"Today, we welcome Georgia, Moldova and Serbia in our #EUCovidCertificate system", wrote the EU Commission on its official Twitter account.
According to the new announcement, the COVID-19 certificates that are issued by the authorities of Georgia, Moldova and Serbia will now be recognized under the same conditions as the EU COVID digital certificate issued by EU countries / Schengen Area.
It means that citizens of these third countries will now be able to travel to EU Member States and other third countries that are already connected to the system, as long as they have a valid certificate proving vaccination or recovery of COVID-19.
"When traveling, the holder of the digital certificate COVID-19 UE should, in principle, be exempted from restrictions on free movement: Member States should refrain from imposing additional travel restrictions on holders of a COVID-19 digital certificate UE", Explained the Commission.
However, the authorities in Georgia, Moldova and Serbia need to maintain relaxed rules of entry and travel for other holders of the EU COVID digital certificate, which means that holders of the document should generally be exempt from all rules. entry when they arrive in one of the three countries.
With the exception of Georgia, Moldova and Serbia, which have just joined the system, 11 other third countries are also connected to the EU's COVID-19 digital certificate system.
"49 countries and territories on five continents are now connected to the system, boosting confidence in safe travel inside and outside the EU!" said a representative of the European Commission.
These countries are: Albania, Armenia, Faroe Islands, Israel, Morocco, New Zealand, Northern Macedonia, Panama, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.